Emerging brands: the case of China

The time for an up-to-date and authoritative text on brand management has come. Perspectives on Brand Management is an exciting edited text -based on the latest Australian, New Zealand and international research from a hand-picked team of experts and explores and analyses the issues, trends and challenges in the dynamic field of brand management

Identifying Opportunities for Improved Adoption of New Grazing Innovations

Those aiming for high levels of adoption of grazing-related innovation are often frustrated at low and slow uptake by farmers. This paper describes a new tool, ADOPT (Adoption and Diffusion Outcome Prediction Tool), that can be used to evaluate the potential adoptability of grazing innovations (Kuehne et al. 2012). ADOPT aims to: (1) predict an innovation’s likely peak level of adoption and likely time for reaching that peak; (2) encourage users to consider factors affecting adoption during project design; and (3) engage R, D & E managers and practitioners by making adoptability knowledge and considerations more transparent and understandable

Adaptive free energy sampling in multidimensional collective variable space using boxed molecular dynamics

The past decade has seen the development of a new class of rare event methods in which molecular configuration space is divided into a set of boundaries/interfaces, and then short trajectories are run between boundaries. For all these methods, an important concern is how to generate boundaries. In this paper, we outline an algorithm for adaptively generating boundaries along a free energy surface in multi-dimensional collective variable (CV) space, building on the boxed molecular dynamics (BXD) rare event algorithm. BXD is a simple technique for accelerating the simulation of rare events and free energy sampling which has proven useful for calculating kinetics and free energy profiles in reactive and non-reactive molecular dynamics (MD) simulations across a range of systems, in both NVT and NVE ensembles. Two key developments outlined in this paper make it possible to automate BXD, and to adaptively map free energy and kinetics in complex systems. First, we have generalized BXD to multidimensional CV space. Using strategies from rigid-body dynamics, we have derived a simple and general velocity-reflection procedure that conserves energy for arbitrary collective variable definitions in multiple dimensions, and show that it is straightforward to apply BXD to sampling in multidimensional CV space so long as the Cartesian gradients ∇CV are available. Second, we have modified BXD to undertake on-the-fly statistical analysis during a trajectory, harnessing the information content latent in the dynamics to automatically determine boundary locations. Such automation not only makes BXD considerably easier to use; it also guarantees optimal boundaries, speeding up convergence. We have tested the multidimensional adaptive BXD procedure by calculating the potential of mean force for a chemical reaction recently investigated using both experimental and computational approaches - i.e., F + CD3CN → DF + D2CN in both the gas phase and a strongly coupled explicit CD3CN solvent. The results obtained using multidimensional adaptive BXD agree well with previously published experimental and computational results, providing good evidence for its reliability

Conducting robust ecological analyses with climate data

Although the number of studies discerning the impact of climate change on ecological systems continues to increase, there has been relatively little sharing of the lessons learnt when accumulating this evidence. At a recent workshop entitled ‘Using climate data in ecological research’ held at the UK Met Office, ecologists and climate scientists came together to discuss the robust analysis of climate data in ecology. The discussions identified three common pitfalls encountered by ecologists: 1) selection of inappropriate spatial resolutions for analysis; 2) improper use of publically available data or code; and 3) insufficient representation of the uncertainties behind the adopted approach. Here, we discuss how these pitfalls can be avoided, before suggesting ways that both ecology and climate science can move forward. Our main recommendation is that ecologists and climate scientists collaborate more closely, on grant proposals and scientific publications, and informally through online media and workshops. More sharing of data and code (e.g. via online repositories), lessons and guidance would help to reconcile differing approaches to the robust handling of data. We call on ecologists to think critically about which aspects of the climate are relevant to their study system, and to acknowledge and actively explore uncertainty in all types of climate data. And we call on climate scientists to make simple estimates of uncertainty available to the wider research community. Through steps such as these, we will improve our ability to robustly attribute observed ecological changes to climate or other factors, while providing the sort of influential, comprehensive analyses that efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change so urgently require

Challenges facing the Family Farm - proceedings of a seminar

The papers put forward should be valuable reference to all farmers in the wheatbelt. to bridge the gap between experts and farmers. My aim in organising this seminar was an attempt to bridge the gap between experts and farmers

Crop Updates 2002 - Farming Systems

This session covers forty one papers from different authors: INTRODUCTION 1. Future Farming Systems session for Crop Updates 2002 Peter Metcalf, FARMING SYSTEMS SUBPROGRAM MANAGER GRAINS PROGRAM Department of Agriculture 2. Perennial pastures in annual cropping systems: Lucerne and beyond, the ‘Big Picture’, Mike Ewing, Deputy CEO CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, Department of Agriculture 3. Perennial pastures in annual cropping systems: lucerne and beyond, Roy Latta and Keith Devenish, Department of Agriculture 4. Establishing Lucerne with a cover crop, Diana Fedorenko1, Clayton Butterly1, Chantelle Butterly1, Kim and Neil Diamond2, Stuart McAlpine2, Bill Bowden1, Jessica Johns3, 1Centre for Cropping Systems, Northam, 2Farmer, Buntine, 3Department of Agriculture 5. Overcropping: Chemical suppression of Lucerne, Terry Piper1, Diana Fedorenko1, Clayton Butterly1, Chantelle Butterly1, Stuart McAlpine2, Jessica Johns3, 1Centre for Cropping Systems, Northam, 2Farmer, Buntine, 3Department of Agriculture 6. Overcropping: Effect of Lucerne density on crop yield, Diana Fedorenko1, Bill Bowden1, Clayton Butterly1, Chantelle Butterly1, Stuart McAlpine2, Terry Piper1,1Centre for Cropping Systems, Department of Agriculture, Northam, 2Farmer, Buntine 7. Residual effect of weed management in the third year of Lucerne on the following wheat crop, Diana Fedorenko1, Clayton Butterly1, Chantelle Butterly1, Stuart McAlpine2,Terry Piper1, David Bowran1, Jessica Johns3,1Centre for Cropping Systems, Northam, 2Farmer, Buntine, 3Department of Agriculture 8. Production of Lucerne and serradella in four soil types, Diana Fedorenko1 Clayton Butterly1, Chantelle Butterly1, Robert Beard2 1Centre for Cropping Systems, Department of Agriculture, 2Farmer, Cunderdin 9. The effect of spray topping on newly established Lucerne, Keith Devenish, Agriculture Western Australia 10. Leakage from phase rotations involving Lucerne, Phil Ward, CSIRO Plant Industry 11. Fungal diseases present in Western Australian Lucerne crops, Dominie Wright and Nichole Burges, Department of Agriculture 12. Survey of Western Australian Lucerne stands reveals widespread virus infection, Roger Jones and Danae Harman, Crop Improvement Institute, Department of Agriculture, and Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, University of WA ANNUAL PASTURE SYSTEMS 13. The use of Twist Fungus as a biosecurity measure against Annual Ryegrass Toxicity (ARGT), Greg Shea, GrainGuard Coordinator and George Yan, Biological and Resource Technology 14.Limitations and opportunities for increasing water use by annual crops and pastures, David Tennant1, Phil Ward2and David Hall1 1Department of Agriculture, 2CSIRO, Plant Industries, Floreat Park 15. Developing pasture species mixtures for more productive and sustainable cropping systems – 2001 crop performance, Anyou Liu, Clinton Revell and Candy Hudson, Centre for Cropping Systems, Department of Agriculture 16. Developing pasture species mixtures for more productive and sustainable cropping systems – weed management in regenerating mixtures, Anyou Liu and Clinton Revell, Centre for Cropping Systems, Department of Agriculture 17. Aphid tolerance of annual pasture legumes, Andrew Blake, Natalie Lauritsen, Department of Agriculture 18. Selecting the right variety for phase pasture systems, Keith Devenish, Department of Agriculture 19. Responses of alternative annual pasture and forage legumes to challenge with infectious subterranean clover mottle virus, John Fosu-Nyarko, Roger Jones, Lisa Smith, Mike Jones and Geoff Dwyer, State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre and Centre for Bioinformatics and Biological Computing, Murdoch University, Department of Agriculture, and Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture SOIL AND LAND MANAGEMENT 20. Nutrition in 2002: Decisions to be made as a result of last season, Bill Bowden,Western Australia Department of Agriculture 21. Profitability of deep banding lime, Michael O\u27Connell, Chris Gazey and David Gartner, Department of Agriculture 22. Lime efficiency percentage…the new measure of lime effectiveness for Western Australia, Amanda Miller, Department of Agriculture 23. Boron – should we be worried about it, Richard W. BellA, K. FrostA, Mike WongBand Ross BrennanC ASchool of Environmental Science, Murdoch University, BCSIRO Land and Water, CDepartment of Agriculture 24. Impact of claying and other amelioration on paddock profit, N.J. Blake1, G. McConnell2, D. Patabendige1and N. Venn11Department of Agriculture, 2PlanFarm P/L 25. Raised bed farming in the 2001 growing season, Derk Bakker, Greg Hamilton, Dave Houlbrooke and Cliff Spann, Department of Agriculture 26. Economics of tramline farming systems, Paul Blackwell and Bindi Webb, Department of Agriculture, Stuart McAlpine, Liebe Group. 27. Relay planting from Tramlines to increase water use and productivity os summer crops, Dr Paul Blackwell, Department of Agriculture, Neil and Kim Diamond, Buntine. Liebe Group 28.Evidence-based zone management of paddock variability to improve profits and environmental outcomes, M.T.F. WongA, D. PatabendigeB, G. LyleA and K. WittwerA ACSIRO Land and Water, BDepartment of Agriculture 29. How much soil water is lost over summer in sandy soils? Perry Dolling1, Senthold Asseng2, Ian Fillery2, Phil Ward2and Michael Robertson3 1University of Western Australia/Department of Agriculture Western Australia/CSIRO, 2CSIRO Plant Industry 3CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Indooroopilly, Queensland FARMER DECISION SUPPORT AND ADOPTION 30. Economic comparisons of farming systems for the medium rainfall northern sandplain, No 1, Caroline Peek and David Rogers, Department of Agriculture 31. Sensitivity analysis of farming systems for the medium rainfall northern sandplain No 2, Caroline Peek and David Rogers, Department of Agriculture 32. Transition analysis of farming systems in the medium rainfall northern sandplain. No 3, Caroline Peek and David Rogers, Department of Agriculture 33. Implementing on-farm quality assurance, Peter Portmann, Manager Research and Development, The Grain Pool of Western Australia 34. On-farm research – principles of the ‘Test As You Grow’ kit, Jeff Russell, Department of Agriculture 35. Broadscale wheat variety comparisons featuring Wyalkatchem, Jeff Russell, Department of Agriculture 36. GrainGuardÔ - A biosecurity plan for the Canola Industry,Greg Shea Department of Agriculture 37. Are Western Australian broadacre farms efficient? Ben Henderson, University of Western Australia, Ross Kingwell, Department of Agriculture and University of Western Australia DISEASE MODELLING WORKSHOP 38. WORKSHOP: Pest and disease forecasts for you! An interactive forum, Tresslyn Walmsley, Jean Galloway, Debbie Thackray, Moin Salam and Art Diggle, Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture and Department of Agriculture 39. Blackspot spread: Disease models are based in reality (Workshop paper 1), JeanGalloway,Department of Agriculture 40. Blackspot spread: Scaling-up field data to simulate ‘Baker’s farm’ (Workshop paper 2), Moin U. Salam, Jean Galloway, Art J. Diggle and William J. MacLeod, Department of Agriculture, Western Australia 41. A decision support system for control of aphids and CMV in lupin crops (Workshop paper 3), Debbie Thackray, Jenny Hawkes and Roger Jones, Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture and Department of Agricultur

Complete Mitochondrial Genome Sequence of Three Tetrahymena Species Reveals Mutation Hot Spots and Accelerated Nonsynonymous Substitutions in Ymf Genes

The ciliate Tetrahymena, a model organism, contains divergent mitochondrial (Mt) genome with unusual properties, where half of its 44 genes still remain without a definitive function. These genes could be categorized into two major groups of KPC (known protein coding) and Ymf (genes without an identified function). To gain insights into the mechanisms underlying gene divergence and molecular evolution of Tetrahymena (T.) Mt genomes, we sequenced three Mt genomes of T.paravorax, T.pigmentosa, and T.malaccensis. These genomes were aligned and the analyses were carried out using several programs that calculate distance, nucleotide substitution (dn/ds), and their rate ratios (ω) on individual codon sites and via a sliding window approach. Comparative genomic analysis indicated a conserved putative transcription control sequence, a GC box, in a region where presumably transcription and replication initiate. We also found distinct features in Mt genome of T.paravorax despite similar genome organization among these ∼47 kb long linear genomes. Another significant finding was the presence of at least one or more highly variable regions in Ymf genes where majority of substitutions were concentrated. These regions were mutation hotspots where elevated distances and the dn/ds ratios were primarily due to an increase in the number of nonsynonymous substitutions, suggesting relaxed selective constraint. However, in a few Ymf genes, accelerated rates of nonsynonymous substitutions may be due to positive selection. Similarly, on protein level the majority of amino acid replacements occurred in these regions. Ymf genes comprise half of the genes in Tetrahymena Mt genomes, so understanding why they have not been assigned definitive functions is an important aspect of molecular evolution. Importantly, nucleotide substitution types and rates suggest possible reasons for not being able to find homologues for Ymf genes. Additionally, comparative genomic analysis of complete Mt genomes is essential in identifying biologically significant motifs such as control regions

DRAR-CPI: a server for identifying drug repositioning potential and adverse drug reactions via the chemical–protein interactome

Identifying new indications for existing drugs (drug repositioning) is an efficient way of maximizing their potential. Adverse drug reaction (ADR) is one of the leading causes of death among hospitalized patients. As both new indications and ADRs are caused by unexpected chemical–protein interactions on off-targets, it is reasonable to predict these interactions by mining the chemical–protein interactome (CPI). Making such predictions has recently been facilitated by a web server named DRAR-CPI. This server has a representative collection of drug molecules and targetable human proteins built up from our work in drug repositioning and ADR. When a user submits a molecule, the server will give the positive or negative association scores between the user’s molecule and our library drugs based on their interaction profiles towards the targets. Users can thus predict the indications or ADRs of their molecule based on the association scores towards our library drugs. We have matched our predictions of drug–drug associations with those predicted via gene-expression profiles, achieving a matching rate as high as 74%. We have also successfully predicted the connections between anti-psychotics and anti-infectives, indicating the underlying relevance of anti-psychotics in the potential treatment of infections, vice versa. This server is freely available at http://cpi.bio-x.cn/drar/

Crop Updates 2007 - Cereals

This session covers twenty six papers from different authors: CEREAL BREEDING 1. Strategies for aligning producer and market imperatives in cereal breeding in Western Australia, R. Loughman, R. Lance, I. Barclay, G. Crosbie, S. Harasymow, W. Lambe, C. Li, R. McLean, C. Moore, K. Stefanova, A. Tarr and R. Wilson, Department of Agriculture and Food 2. LongReach plant breeders wheat variety trials – 2006, Matu Peipi and Matt Whiting, LongReach Plant Breeders WHEAT AGRONOMY 3. Response of wheat varieties to sowing time in the northern agricultural region in 2006, Christine Zaicou, Department of Agriculture and Food 4. Response of wheat varieties to sowing time in the central agricultural region in 2006, Shahajahan Miyan, Department of Agriculture and Food 5. Response of wheat varieties to sowing time in the Great Southern and Lakes region, Brenda Shackleyand Ian Hartley, Department of Agriculture and Food 6. Response of wheat varieties to time of sowing time in Esperance region in 2006, Christine Zaicou, Ben Curtis and Ian Hartley, Department of Agriculture and Food 7. Performance of wheat varieties in National Variety Testing (NVT) WA: Year 2, Peter Burgess, Agritech Crop Research 8. Flowering dates of wheat varieties in Western Australia in 2006, Darshan Sharma, Brenda Shackley and Christine Zaicou, Department of Agriculture and Food 9. Prospects for perennial wheat: A feasibility study, Len J. Wade, Lindsay W. Bell, Felicity Byrne (nee Flugge) and Mike A. Ewing, School of Plant Biology and CRC for Plant-based Management of Dryland Salinity, The University of Western Australia BARLEY AGRONOMY 10. Barley agronomy highlights: Time of sowing x variety, Blakely Paynter and Andrea Hills, Department of Agriculture and Food 11. Barley agronomy highlights: Weeds and row spacing, Blakely Paynter and Andrea Hills, Department of Agriculture and Food 12. Barley agronomy highlights: Weeds and barley variety, Blakely Paynter and Andrea Hills, Department of Agriculture and Food OAT AGRONOMY 13. Agronomic performance of dwarf potential milling oat varieties in varied environments of WA, Raj Malik, Blakely Paynter and Kellie Winfield, Department of Agriculture and Food 14. Sourcing oat production information in 2007, Kellie Winfield, Department of Agriculture and Food HERBICIDE TOLERANCE 15. Response of new wheat varieties to herbicides, Harmohinder Dhammu, Department of Agriculture and Food 16. Herbicide tolerance of new barley varieties, Harmohinder Dhammu, Vince Lambert and Chris Roberts, Department of Agriculture and Food 17. Herbicide tolerance of new oat varieties, Harmohinder Dhammu, Vince Lambert and Chris Roberts, Department of Agriculture and Food NUTRITION 18. Nitrogen Decision Tools – choose your weapon, Jeremy Lemon, Department of Agriculture and Food DISEASES 19. Barley agronomy highlights: Canopy management, Andrea Hills and Blakely Paynter, Department of Agriculture and Food 20. Barley agronomy highlights: Leaf diseases and spots, Andrea Hills and Blakely Paynter, Department of Agriculture and Food 21. Fungicide applications for stripe rust management in adult plant resistant (APR) wheat varieties, Geoff Thomas, Rob Loughman, Ian Hartley and Andrew Taylor; Department of Agriculture and Food 22. Effect of seed treatment with Jockey on time of onset and disease severity of stripe rust in wheat, Manisha Shankar, John Majewski and Rob Loughman, Department of Agriculture and Food 23. Rotations for management of Cereal Cyst Nematode, Vivien Vanstone, Department of Agriculture and Food 24. Occurrence of Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus in Western Australian grainbelt during the 2006 growing season, Brenda Coutts, Monica Kehoe and Roger Jones, Department of Agriculture and Food 25. Development of a seed test for Wheat Streak Mosaic Virus in bulk samples of wheat, Geoffrey Dwyer, Belinda Welsh, Cuiping Wang and Roger Jones, Department of Agriculture and Food MARKETS 26. Developing the Australian barley value chain, Linda Price, Barley Australi